No, Smriti Irani Didn’t Say She’ll End Her Life if PM Modi Loses

A screenshot of Union Minister Smriti Irani – on what appears to be a news channel – with a message that says she will end her life if the prime minister loses, has been doing the rounds on social media.

The post is fake. Smriti Irani’s remarks are something that the media keeps a track of diligently. But a simple google search throws up no such instance when Irani made such a statement.

In February, Irani had said she would “quit politics” if Prime Minister Narendra Modi decides to “hang his boots”, but nowhere did she ever make any statement about ending her life as claimed by the viral message.

“The day ‘pradhan sevak’ Narendra Modi decides to hang his boots, I will also leave Indian politics,” she had said while speaking at the Words Count festival in Pune.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

On conducting a search on the ABP News website about Smriti Irani, a news package that was produced on 13 March 2019 was found.

A news package produced by ABP News on 13 March 2019, which resembles the screenshot doing the rounds has been doctored to spread the false information.

This is the original frame in the news package where Smriti Irani was addressing the media about Rahul Gandhi, and it mentions no such remark made by Irani.

Below is the viral screenshot which resembles ABP News’ clip.

The fake screenshot.

If we closely analyse the image in the viral message, we can clearly see the difference in the red shade put behind the text.

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